Our Review

Mediocre sushi restaurants open every month. Usagi Ya is a happy exception. Cheaper than its neighbors Bob San and Mirai, it delivers as much on atmosphere as either and holds its own on the sushi front. The rubber floor has a raised pattern of tightly woven lines, evoking the look of a straw mat. The walls -- a mix of brown and beige -- are hung with dramatic silk screens of cartoonlike human figures. The edamame came to the table as they should, hot and generously salted; the octopus in the tako salad was surprisingly supple. My sushi -- salmon, tuna, red snapper, and sweet shrimp -- was pristine. (The chef gladly accommodated my friend, a sushi purist, who requested that the shrimp heads be fried whole for our consumption.) Slight missteps included the mackerel, which tasted about a day past its prime, and an oversauced dragon roll. Compared with the moderately priced sushi (most individual nigiri are between $2 and $3), the cooked dishes ($12-$19), with ethereal names like Honey Moon Shrimp, seem overpriced.